Camping location Ideas for travel back from Los Angeles to South Texas

We are heading to Los Angeles next week from South Texas leaving our Casita home and going to pick up our 2017 Escape 21 I just purchased last week.

Looking for some camping ideas along the I-10 route on the way back home. Joshua Tree National park was full up for Friday night so we found Mt San Jacinto state park in CA for the first night and I got the only spot they had!

Don't have to much time to vary to far from the Southern route back to Texas because of obligations at home so only have 7 days but would like some ideas.

Boon docking is great and we are set up for it so that's not a problem for us and we prefer that.

Also stayed at the Cracker Barrel on the west side of El Paso. Decent free over night stay. We much prefer Cracker Barrel over Walmart. Tend to be more conveniently located (Cracker Barrels are built to serve travelers, Walmarts are built to serve locals), quieter at night (close at 10PM). Catch dinner and breakfast in the AM. Lots of road construction in El Paso.

Try IOverlander, a free app for ideas. We also like freecampsites.net. Then for $4.99 is an app called Ultimate Campgrounds with 38,000+ listing of state, muni, county, coe, nfs, blm, etc official campgrounds. We search them all when traveling and trying to find places within xxx miles of the last spot.

There is decent dispersed camping just before entrance to Joshua Tree from the I-10 side. Just east of Tucson is Karchner Caverns S.P. which is the newest most state of the art cavern in the world. They spent $25M to do it right to protect the caves.

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"We gotta get as far away as we can!"
- Russell Casse, Independence Day

My stops coming from Dallas area to San Diego last fall mostly Parks.(so reverse order for you) Lloyd Park, Grand Prairie, TX. KOA Abilene. Hacienda RV Las Cruces . Tucson KOA--its GIGANTIC with some sites under shade of really big solar panels. Lots of citrus trees and free fruit. Good place for two nights if you can do it. (see the Desert Museum--a lovely botanical garden with some animals) also Saguaro NP--don't take the trailer there. Near there is the Amerind Foundation Museum in Dragoon. a short stop and very interesting. Yuma--Las Quintas Oasis. Nice folks, lots of park models, well maintained.

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--Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced older woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force. --Dorothy Sayers

Thanks for all the reply's, I use several different methods while traveling. But sometimes this takes the brain damage out of the process while of searching while traveling. Some unknown gems exist out there and are hard to find and nice that everyone doesn't know about them.

And yes another Texan with an Escape, We drank the Koo-Aid!!

Several of our friends last year upgraded to escapes and we decided to do the same but "used" like new.
All of theirs were new orders but I saw this one just at the right time and place, here on the forum early one morning shortly after it was posted.

2X on City of Rocks, my favorite NM State Park. While it doesn't appear to be on your route, a little known California state park that I like is Red Rock Canyon State Park. Interesting formations behind most of the sites. Dry camping, and the only vault toilets I've seen that don't have a roof!

Also stayed at the Cracker Barrel on the west side of El Paso. Decent free over night stay. We much prefer Cracker Barrel over Walmart. Tend to be more conveniently located (Cracker Barrels are built to serve travelers, Walmarts are built to serve locals), quieter at night (close at 10PM). Catch dinner and breakfast in the AM. Lots of road construction in El Paso.

We also prefer Cracker Barrel to stay (and Beth really loves shopping there as well as eating) over Walmart. On our recent trip home from GA, first night in Tupelo MS at CB there were others camping there with whom we chatted. Next night at the Walmart in West Plains MO they were most particular about where to park. One older motorhome which looked like he was camping there, toad was not attached. When Beth walked our dog close to his unit (she thought unoccupied) his large dog nearly escaped growling at ours. He didn't seem pleased they were too close to his motorhome.

__________________Adrian (and Beth)We are all travellers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.
Robert Louis Stevenson

During our Grand Canyon River trip we had two options for facilities. A tent for privacy and one for the scenic view of the canyon. The view was a bit further down the trail usually in a descreet area. To indicate if a facility was in use, spare life jackets were left a the start of the path towards the jouney. You took one with you indicating "occupied".

Usually referred to as the "groover", from the early rafting days when it was a tall rectangular ammo can. before someone got the bright idea to make a toilet seat that would stay on (didn't take long, i bet), you got off the "throne" with groove marks in your backside. you can see one next to the aluminum potty in the righthand photo.

__________________
--Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced older woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force. --Dorothy Sayers